Woohoo! I’m famous!

Yes, it’s fame at last for me! The Irish National newspaper The Irish Sunday Independent have interviewed me for their financial Q&A The Paper Prophet. I talk about baked beans, mars bars, chips, all sorts of important things for readers to think about over their morning Frosties.

This is all in anticipation of an invasion by me and fellow Fleecestationer, Sarah MacIntyre to Dublin in a couple of weeks as part of the Children’s Book Festival. In fact, I’ve just remembered we’re being filmed for a kids TV programme on RTE too! Wow. Get those rotten tomatoes ready to throw at the screen.

In other news, yesterday me and my dad had a crazy day meeting long-lost relatives. I’ve been digging around my family tree for over 10 years now (one of my long-standing uber-obsessions) and it was great to finally put some faces to names of some of my ye olde ancestors.

Check out this mean-looking dude (my Great-Great-Grandfather) on the left from about 1900…

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Apparently he was a right hard fella and to be truthful, with that scowl, I wouldn’t want to mess with him. He had a tough old upbringing; his rogue sailor dad was lost at sea around 1863 and in 1883 his step-dad murdered his mum (a sad story I’ll save for another blog post).

Here he is wrestling an anchor 20 years later…

(I keep thinking that’s his hair blowing in the wind, but it’s probably a tree).

His son (my Great Grandfather), in the first picture on the right, was no different. According to an article in Island History News (all about the Isle of Dogs), he joined the Merchant Navy and went round the world three times, was iced up in Greenland for nine months, got torpedoed three times in the First World War and worked as a diver for the PLA. (And that was all before breakfast! Hahaha!!!)

And the little baby dude on his mum’s lap? He did the last trip on the Cutty Sark! So cool.

Thanks to everyone for such a brilliant day yesterday, especially Brian Lang for organising the get-together.

I’ll leave it upto my great uncle once removed for the final word. Cheers Jack!

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